Saturday Morning

Just a dreamy Saturday morning around here....

Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce

Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce

2 cups Whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
3/4 cup maple syrup ( I use pancakes syrup)
1/4 cup safflower oil (I use Smart Balance)
2 lg eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Add wet to dry. Pour into a greased 9x9 pan and bake 30 - 40 minutes.

Caramel Sauce (From the Joy of Cooking -- Caramel Icing

Stir until sugar is dissolved:
2cups brown sugar
1 cup cream or 1/2 cup butter plus 1/2 cup milk. (I chose milk and butter method.)
Cover and cook about 3 minutes or util the steam has washed down any crystals that may have formed on the sides of the pan.Uncover and cook without stirring to 238 or 240 degrees.
Add;
3 Tbs butter
Remove icing from the heat and cool to 110 degrees. (I couldn't wait that long and made it to about 150.)
Add:
1 tsp vanilla
Beat the icing until thick and creamy.(I gave it a good stir, but didn't beat.) If it becomes too heavy, thin with a little:
cream
until it is of spreading consistency.

Early Morning Picnik

"Somebody" woke up earlier than they wanted to this morning. "Somebody's" bladder decided that for them.

Ah, the joys of aging.

But I'm making wine out of my sour grapes.

Remember this photo?

I did some basic (read: very basic) editing with Photo Shop. Yeah. I have LOTS to learn about Photo Shop.

But then...

I (re)discovered picnik.

I did lots of cool things with the basic, online tools they have available.

Just think what I could do with the premium package!

BWWAHHAAHAHA!!!! *Rubbing hands with glee*

P.S. They did not pay me for this free solicitation. BUT THEY SHOULD!!! :)

Oh Happy Day...

Oh glorious delight.

It's 17 degrees outside this morning which, to me, is as cold as the North Pole. At least, it feels that way to my southern bones, where anything below 32 degrees calls for staying in the house and hibernating like a bear. My current giddy state is due, not to the weather --we have nothing to show for our popscicle-ey temperatures--but to the fact that my schedule has opened up and I have no obligations to take me from my warm, snuggly home. As the rest of the family slumbers under their cocoon of blankets, I have slipped to the computer to catch up on the latest. I've brewed some coffee to which I added vanilla flavoring and ground cinnamon to the grounds before brewing. Speaking of coffee, has anyone else discovered Truvia?

Morning has to be my favorite part of the day. It's as if even the sun throws off a light that is promising. There's the opportunity of things to be done, fun to be had.

So, if you will excuse me, I need another cup of coffee to sip on while I read your blogs and find inspiration for my day...

Warm and Fuzzy Breakfast

O.K., maybe it's not fuzzy, but it is warm. It'll make you feel fuzzy. How 'bout that?

Prepare your oatmeal according to the instructions on the package.

Add about a tablespoon (more or less to your taste) of Smart Balance "butter", a dropper of English Toffee flavored stevia and about half a cup of vanilla soymilk.

Yumbo!

I've been looking for a lower calorie version of oatmeal. I tend toward butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.

My new version is definitely a great substitute!

(You can find stevia at your health food store or here's a link to some of the flavored ones I like to use.)

My Technicolor World

The rosy rising of the sun starts the whole show...

Fall has fallen.



It's obvious when you look at the ground covered
with golden leaves glowing in the sun.
























Primary colored leaves
litter the grass.



















Crimson vines trail up the trees.
The sun lights their fiery colors.

It's FALL ya'll!

So far this morning, I've been to work out at the gym, somehow ate breakfast, dressed myself and my girl, (I'm wearing a hat today if that's any clue as to how that went...) got her to school and went to the library for a fresh stack of books all before 9:30 am.

In the process of all that, I left my coffee in the microwave and gave my last dollars to hubby so I couldn't even go buy a cuppa before work.

Pity me.

Cause after my flurry of activity, all I want to do, on this chilly day, is curl up in a corner with a cup of creamy, hot coffee and peruse these:

Dreamy Morning

I'm having the morning of my dreams.

I got up at about 5am with the intention (been saying that a lot lately) of going to work out. However, with the pain in my head I couldn't imagine the exertion would help a headache any. That's what happens to me when I go a month between massage appointments instead of every other week. My shoulders gather up around my ears and muscles wad up into knots.

Although that doesn't sound very dreamy, drinking coffee (surprise) and visiting blogs is. I've been making my long neglected blog rounds. Over time my list of favorite blogs has lengthened. I used to be able to visit most of them about every other day. Now, not so much.

Some inspiring things this morning:
Alicia's post evokes memories of summers past.
Anahata inspires me with her art.
This sweet lady reminds me to let kids be kids.

I think I love blogs about as much as I love coffee.

Combine the two and I'm in a swoon.
Yes. I'm very relaxed now.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the muscle relaxer I took either.

Of course not.

Coffee--The Other Wonder Drug

I'm a user.

Unabashed and unashamed user.

I zoomed through my day yesterday, weaving in and out of activities. Seamlessly moving between clients and the business of business that inevitably comes when you own your own salon.

I was effecient, effective and happy.

I made calls, tracked down information, gave an employee a pep talk and did hair almost all at the same time!

I had two cups of coffee before my a.m. meeting with the two other owners of the salon. We met at my favorite local coffee shop. Of course, while there, I had the biggest non-fat latte that they serve. I sipped on that through the morning till lunch.

Occasionally, I go to bed looking foward to the next day if only for the coffee that I know awaits me in the morning. My sister just made my coffee dreams come true when she began working in a coffee shop in our hometown.

I guess we would be safe to say at this point that I love coffee. Hot, cold, frozen...just make it good quality and I'm all over it.

I think I'm addicted.

Can This Day Get Any Better?!

I just went to my favorite coffee place and discovered that my mega nonfat latte was free today!

The Best Part of Waking Up

A.M:

Gym
Home
Coffee
Alone
You

Life as I know it at this very moment is absolutely perfect.

Have a good day, all.

I Think I Have a Problem

I really didn't mean to get up at 5:47 am this morning.
I was going to sleep in until at least 6:30, then get up and work out at home. Weeeellll. I have a cat. Actually, I have three cats, but just one was obnoxiously annoying this morning (as opposed to 2 or 3 annoying cats in the wee hours of the morning.).

Aside from the fact that my bladder was waking me up and I would studiously ignore the urge and doze off again, I had a cat walking across my bladder. She would perch on my shoulder. Then she would pitty-pat on my shoulder with just enough claw action so you Icould feel it. I'd shove her off and she would come running back, this time to scratch on the sheets. I knew what she wanted. "MOM! COME FEED MEEE-owNOW!

sigh.

Why must I be all things to all people?

Even the cats?

Tired of fighting cats and bladders, I decided it would be less work to just get up and start the day. After tending to business, (bladder first, cat second) I looked to attend to the next urgent matter of business: coffee. For some reason, I walked to my back door, (not sure why I stopped off there, it had nothing to do with the coffee pot) where I discovered a note to myself from yesterday reminding me to get gas and coffee. Well, I remembered the gas, or I would have never made it to work. The coffee however.... well, it's urgency got lost in work, employee lunch meetings and a scurry to vote after work before the polls closed.

Until this morning. When I went to the back door and it all came flooding back. I was ready for coffee and had none. What a tragedy! So I did the equivalant of going to Columbia and handpicking my coffee and roasting it: I drove across town to the only 24 hour store (that I know of) in town -Wal-Mart. Grrr. I really make it a point not to go into Wal-Mart for a lot of different reasons, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

It just goes to show what lengths people will go to get a fix for their addiction.